This study investigated family language policy (FLP) practices at home among Russian heritage and majority language speakers and their children in Cyprus, Estonia and Sweden. We connect the analysis of top-down discourses on Russian at the national level with an analysis of bottom-up reactions to them based on individual FLPs.
Language ideologies depend on family, language use and value, place and status of minority and majority languages, dynamics, quality, extent and longevity of social use, social networks and strategies for revitalisation (Spolsky, 2004, 2009; Shohamy, 2000; King, 2006; King et al., 2008). Language awareness in the community, effective family language policy (hereafter FLP) and socialisation activities are important for language maintenance and transmission. FLP presupposes practice, management and ideology, as well as emotional and psychological factors. This study investigated FLP practices at home among Russian heritage and majority language speakers and their children in Cyprus, Estonia and Sweden. Mixed marriages, middle socio-economic class multilinguals, full and one-parent families, residing both in rural and urban areas, were the focus of our research: 60 in Cyprus, 40 in Estonia and 50 in Sweden. To collect information, we used written questionnaires and oral interviews. In Cyprus and Sweden, participants mainly came from immigrant and mixed-marriage communities, while in Estonia they were from a bilingual society, where Estonian is a prestigious language and Russian has low status. The present comparative research project looks at how FLP and sociolinguistic processes have evolved in three societies. We combined “from above” and “from below” analysis of official discourses produced by authorities, with a stereoscopy of an anthropological viewpoint, paying attention to the individual FLP shifts in various families. We connect the analysis of top-down discourses on Russian at the national level with an analysis of bottom-up reactions to them based on individual FLPs. A very thorough analysis of diverse family types revealed both differences and similarities among Russian-speakers in their family language practices. Parents often chose the one-parent-one-language approach. However, not all of the efforts resulted in successful language transmission, which may have been due to individual and or societal differences and family configurations.
